Always Learning

Now here’s a tip to save you time and sanity: Just buy the course.

If you’re content to read the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Airplane Flying Handbook, Aviation Weather Handbook, Risk Management Handbook, the federal aviation regulations, the Aeronautical Information Manual, and various other advisory circulars, handbooks, and supplements, good on you. The relevant references are even listed with each task of the airman certification standards. But it sure helps to have a guide. Online courses and in-person classes walk you through what you need to know and help put lessons into the context of real-world flying.

In private pilot training, I relied mostly on FAA handbooks and other PDFs for ground school study. I was spending enough on the flying, I reasoned, so why spend hundreds of dollars on a ground study course? It worked, and I passed. But while the manuals told me what I needed to know for the test, they left me wondering what was important, and how it all related to a flight from Point A to Point B. Fortunately, experienced pilots around me entertained my endless questions. But when it came time for my instrument rating, I wised up and used a Sporty’s course.

Fellow pilots fill a critical role in our learning throughout our flying lives.Courses from Sporty’s (an AOPA supporting sponsor) and other great ground school providers can guide you effectively through the knowledge requirements of training, as Ian J. Twombly explains in “Chart Your Course,” on p. 38. These courses serve two primary purposes. First and foremost, they prepare you to pass the FAA knowledge test. Some pragmatists among us will say that’s the only purpose—that you should memorize what you need for two and a half hours in a testing center, then move on to the real learning. AOPA and others have made inroads in removing outdated and irrelevant questions from the test—thank the ACS Working Group for sparing you flashcards on NDBs, EFAS, and TWEBs (see “Advanced Pilot: Change Agent,” p. 46)—but you’ll still need to memorize things you could just look up.

Rote memorization gets a bad rap, but training ourselves for easy recall of certain important facts frees up working memory for more complicated tasks. And the second purpose of these courses is to lay a foundation for deeper learning. Individual instructors emphasize different topics; a formal ground school course fills in gaps and is designed to ensure you have at least a basic understanding of all the major things you need to know as a pilot. You won’t learn how to fly in ground school, but a good one will push you from simply remembering the answers to understanding the concepts. From there, there’s a lot more learning to go.

So, what’s the best way to build on your newfound understanding? The widely held belief that we learn best by catering to a learning style—visual, auditory, reading, or kinesthetic—is a myth. We all benefit from learning in multiple ways, so seek out visual aids, videos, podcasts, books, whatever resource will help a concept click. Your training in the aircraft integrates all the senses and will help you make connections and apply your learning from ground school.

And don’t forget the people around you. Your instructor is your greatest resource and can help you work through difficult concepts and answer questions that crop up. Despite the individual nature of flight training, fellow pilots fill a critical role in our learning throughout our flying lives. Study groups can help students learn concepts faster, clear up misunderstandings quickly, and solidify concepts in their own minds by teaching to others. And the stories we tell at the hangar or FBO have the benefits of scenario-based training without the pressure of a classroom. How did your fellow pilot handle an emergency or unexpected development in the air—and why? What would you do if faced with a similar situation? Good pilot friends will make you think. Good pilot friends will make you a better pilot.